NEWS RELEASE
July 25, 2003

            HARTFORD -- The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) of the United States and Canada has informed the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC) that it has received the association’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for its budget.

            This is the 17th consecutive year the MDC has received the award. The MDC and Town of Avon lead Connecticut in having received the award the most times, according to the GFOA. 

To qualify for the award, the MDC had to satisfy nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation. These guidelines are designed to assess how well the budget serves as a policy document; a financial plan; an operations guide and a communications device. Budgets must be rated “proficient” in all four categories to receive the award.

The GFOA, based in Chicago, is a non-profit professional association serving 13,000 government professionals throughout North America. The association’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program is the only national awards program in governmental budgeting.

            A non-profit municipal corporation chartered by the Connecticut General Assembly in 1929, the MDC supplies water and sewer services to its eight member municipalities:  Bloomfield, East Hartford, Hartford, Newington, Rocky Hill, West Hartford, Wethersfield and Windsor.  The MDC supplies treated water to the Town of Portland and portions of Glastonbury, East Granby, South Windsor and Farmington. The MDC owns and operates two three-megawatt hydroelectric power stations, one at the Goodwin Dam in Hartland and one at the Cole­brook River Dam in Colebrook. Under contract with the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority, the MDC operates the waste processing portion of the Mid-Connecticut Project.

# # #